1. Field
The following description relates to a ray tracing method and a ray tracing apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, 3-dimensional (3D) rendering is an image process of synthesizing 3D object data of an image seen from a given camera viewpoint. Examples of rendering methods include rasterization wherein an image is generated while projecting a 3D object on a screen, and ray tracing wherein an image is generated by tracing a path of light through each pixel in an image plane.
When ray tracing is used, a high quality image can be rendered since the physical properties (reflection, refraction, and penetration) of light are reflected on a rendering result. However, it is difficult to use ray tracing for high speed rendering due to a large number of operations required for generation and traversal (TRV) of an acceleration structure (AS) in which scene objects to be rendered are spatially split and for performing an intersection test (IST) between a ray and a primitive.